….on something and refuses to back down. In a country where backtracking seems to be the norm in public life, it is refreshing to see the occassional exhibition of a spinal cord. I hope that Aamir Khan refusing to apologise to the BJP for his comments on the Narmada resettlement issue kickstarts a sort of civic activism.
"If I speak for the rights of a poor farmer displaced by the Sardar Sarovar dam project, what wrong do I do? If a political party faults me in this, I won’t apologise. Instead, I think it shows the apathy they harbour for such concerns"
So true. The political class find it so easy to run roughshod over those who don’t buy their agenda.
Technorati Tags: Aamir Khan, Narmada resettlement
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? 
The thing that psyches Rani the most is the mention of the word “BATH” -and she recognizes it in Tamil, Hindi and English.
She tries all sorts of things to avoid one – from running all over the house and hiding, to digging in her heals and refusing to move.
And then, when it is all over – there she will sit with a martyr like expression on her face. And it takes all of us – going down on our knees – cajoling her for her to get back to her normal mood!
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Assume that there are two brothers in the West (UK or US) called Peter & Paul Matthews. Peter is a Politician & Paul is a builder. One bright and chirpy Sunday morning in suberbia – Paul shoots Peter dead. In three days time there would be four movies announced
A channel like Hallmark would run a nice linear movie on the lives and times of Peter – shot beautifully with diffusers – until a violent tragedy scars the lives of the entire family. A channel like c4 will probably end up making a film where Paul is the good guy who kills Peter – who is the face of evil. A channel like BBC would make a film where there is a global conspiracy to prevent Peter from becoming the supreme leader – and Paul is a brainwashed tool. And Oliver Stone would make an incomprehensible film based on a convoluted conspiracy theory – where Paul isn’t the kiiller – the second gunman is.
While, in India, producers wring their hands and say – shit if i make this film it will never get released in a theatre 
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In today’s junk mail:
You may be surprised to receive this letter from unknown person, being that you have not see me before. In a brief introduction, I am Mrs. Rose Williams from Sierra Leone in West Africa, I am a devoted christian living in Abidjan Ivory coast.
My dear, I inherited the sum of $820,000.00 (Eight hundred and Twenty thousand Us dollars) from my late husband who died in a motor accident on the 15 of January, this year 2006 on his way coming back from his office. My dear, I and my late husband married for a long? time without a child and due to my present situation of health which my doctor has declared that I will not spend long on earth, that is why I contact you, so that you will handle this money into a good business investment for the future benefit of our fellow brethren that are suffering financially at their homes inn your country. Understand that my contacting you is not by my power, rather a divine direction from God and I know that you will not betray his trust in you.
I will be looking forward to hear urgently back from you after reading from your sister so that I will confirm whether you are ready to handle this work our living Almighty has chosen you to do for his obediently children.
Yours beloved sister in Christ,
Rose Williams
The first time i ever set eyes on a mail like this – it was from someone going to be imprisoned for treason (or was it the son of someone hung for treason) in Nigeria. I saw one from Ghana and South Africa – now it is Sierra Leone.
Is there anyone who is on the web, who still gets taken in by this?
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Bloggers rank lowest on the scale of trusted news sources, according to a poll released this week during a media conference in London.? The survey, conducted by the polling company GlobeScan for the BBC-Reuters-Media Center “We Media†Forum and released Wednesday, ranked national TV as the most trusted news source overall, trusted by 82 percent of the 10,230 people surveyed in 10 countries.? Internet bllgs, on the other hand, were trusted by just 25 percent of the respondents. The survey found that 23 percent of the respondents said they distrusted blogs, compared to 16 percent for national TV. One in two people were unable to say whether they trusted blogs at all.
Red Herring reports on a poll conducted during a recent Media conference in London. I think that till there is either ‘self regulation’ or some sort of credibility check – the status of blogs will remain more or less what has been said in the poll.Free expression does not necessarily mean perceived credible expression!
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I would be lying if I said that i admired or respected Pramod Mahajan’s Politics. He represented the worst possible amalgamation of the rabid right mixed with corporate smarminess.
But, my heart goes out to a family that has to cope with one member murdering another.
There is an even greater power vacuum,now, in the BJP – and the right will probably fill it. And barring a major disaster or a miracle (depending on your political leanings) I see Modi rising to power.
Scary prospect!
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The site has been down for a few days. Forgot to renew my domain name. How absent minded can one get?
Felt kind of un nerving. It’s asthough a part of my identity had disappeared for a few days.
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